A consumer may be walking past a merchant and spots an item of interest in the merchant's storefront window or associates the merchant with an item the consumer would like to purchase. The merchant may not provide signage identifying all issuers and types of payment cards accepted at that location. The identifying signage may be out of date or obscured by displays or other advertising media. The consumer may spend time in the store to view the item and decide to make a purchase. If the consumer waits in line with the item to make a purchase and during the checkout process is advised the store does not accept the form of payment presented by the consumer, the consumer may be frustrated with both the merchant and the payment card issuer. Moreover, the merchant does not make a sale and may incur additional labor costs in re-stocking the item. Thus, there is no purchase transaction and time is wasted for both the consumer and merchant because of the consumer's lack of advance knowledge with the forms of payment accepted by the merchant. Additionally, if the merchant does accept a preferred card by the user, but the user is not aware that the merchant accepts such card, the user may utilize a less preferable payment method to complete a transaction.
Embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages are best understood by referring to the detailed description that follows. It should be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identify like elements illustrated in one or more of the figures, wherein showings therein are for purposes of illustrating embodiments of the present disclosure and not for purposes of limiting the same.